Siba Mtongana

Hardly with any pinch of salt, South African food is among the most tasty thing one can get. It gets interesting when one considers the variety of food abound in the country. From the popular bobotie, to bunny chow, braai, chakalaka and biltong, everything is as nice as it can get.

The business of Siba Mtongana revolves around South African food. Siba is a chef, who is dedicating her time to matters dare to the stomach.

Siba Mtongana: Close and Personal

Sibahle, as Siba was known at birth, was born on the 10th of December 1984. Youngest in a family of six, Siba grew up in the town of Mdantsane, East London South Africa, feeding a full house as she used to cook dinner once she was of age.

In pursuance of her love for education and food, Siba went to Cape Peninsula University of Technology, Cape Town. There she obtained a degree in Food and Consumer Sciences. She majored in Food and Food Sciences as well as in Nutrition.

In 2010 she married her Brian Mtongana. Six years down, the union has produced three children; two boys and a girl. The youngest was born in February 2016.

The Chef and Celebrity

Siba Mtongana’s intimacy with food traced back to her mother’s kitchen. Her love spurned even more when it was African dish that was being prepared.

This led her into starting out as a Food Editor for the Drum magazine. It was in 2011 as an editor however, that Siba hit the South African screen for good. Her first show was Drum Presents Cooking with Siba.

Siba Mtongana has her own show on DSTV’s food network channel. The show, “Siba’s Table” has been enjoying a massive followership since its start in 2013.

Sabi’s professional life can be summarized thus:

Food editor with Drum magazine and presenter of Drum Presents Cooking With Seba

Host of Siba’s Table

Judge on Masterchef’s season 1 in 2012.

Siba, together with jenny Morris, another South African celebrity chef and David Van Staden, was a Judge on Chopped South Africa in 2014.

Siba was one of the judges for the 2015 Eat Out Mercedes-Benz Restaurant Awards

In 2014, she published her book; My Table. The book which collected over a hundred recipes from her show, recorded a massive success.

Siba’s Table

In 2013, Siba began her TV show, Siba’s Table. The show that appeared on DSTV’s Food Channel, made a quick hit round the world.

The show brought a fusion of South Africa’s traditional food and modernity. The success of the show was as a result of Siba’s ability to add a global and international flavor to her recipes.

Today, the show is aired in more than a hundred and thirty countries in different continents of the world. In 2014, the show began in USA. Apart from becoming the first South African owned Show on US TV, the show reached over sixty million homes in the country.

Siba’s Kitchen according to the celebrity chef, is never empty of onions, garlic and Ginger. These she said is for both rich flavor and health benefit.

Siba’s Table Recipes are way over 200. The recipes include Pesto chicken penne, Chakalaka, Cape Town Tarts as well as Ginger and Coriander Corn Salad. What makes Siba Mtongana’s Recipes special is her comfort in adding twist and turns.

Siba Mtongana’s recipes that define her vast culinary knowledge has earned her a heeding voice when it comes to food globally. In 2015, she was invited for Taste of Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates.

Awards and Achievements

Siba Mtongana has won three prestigious Galliova Awards for Food journalism and contributing to the South African food circle between 2010 and 2013. In 2010 she won for food article, in 2011 she won for progressive involvement in South African food arena, and in 2013 she won for Extra ordinary progress.

Siba also clinched South African Film and Television Award (SAFTA) for her former cooking show in 2013; Cooking with Seba. The award was for Best Variety Lifestyle.

In the same year, she was honored and awarded by different newspapers and magazines for being exceptional. Among them were Mail&Guardian Newspaper, Cosmopolitan SA Magazine and Destiny Magazine.

In 2014, she was honored by O Magazine and City press as one of the most influential African women of the year and for putting South Africa on the global map through her work respectively.

The popular South African chef is patron for Foodbank South Africa. The organization aims to fight hunger and malnutrition as well as helping those affected with HIV/AIDS.